Every time Spring approaches I get a sudden urge to give my skincare routine a little shakeup. It's probably down to the 'Spring clean' effect and fact my face is now seen in daylight outside the hours 9-4. So I was happy to say the least when Escentual let me choose some items from their fabulous French skincare brands. Ever since Bioderma became the beauty blogger's go to for make up remover, French pharmacy brands have been very much on my radar (and become one of the main lures of Paris), so choosing was a difficult task but I'm actually loving all my new bits already! The first thing I went for was the La Roche-Posay Effaclar Duo [+] because I'm such a firm fan of the original for the wonders it's worked on my skin in terms of blemishes and pores and I'm pleased to report the [+]- with it's additional property of battling red marks- is working just as well, if not better than it's predecessor. Another obvious choice was the infamous Nuxe Rêve de Miel which seems to be the beauty blogger lip balm and having used a grubby pot of scented Vaseline for far too long I'm loving the nourishing effect this thick and creamy balm is having on my lips. I decided to pick up a couple of other bits from Nuxe too- the Masque Crème Fraîche de Beauté and Sérum Minceur Cellulite Incrustée (aka hydrating mask and body contouring serum for those of us rather rusty at French). The mask is really unique because instead of washing it off you just let it sink in for ten minutes before massaging in the excess, which makes it a great lazy gal mask for days when muslin cloths and sinks are far too much effort...we all have them. It also feels super soothing and hydrating, making it the perfect alternating partner to more drying deep clean charcoal based offerings. The contour cream was a bit more of a random option as I luckily don't suffer with cellulite too much, but with shorts weather coming up we could all use a bit of help to make sure the thighs look honed and toned with minimal emergency gym sessions. Last but not least we have the Vichy Idéalia Life Serum. I've never had a serum in my skincare routine before as I do find them a bit on the pricey side, but the promise this would perfect my element exposed overworked skin to the point I'd wear less make up reeled me in hook line and sinker and I'm very excited to give it a good go and report back. In the mean time you can get your mitts on all this skincare yourself for 30% off at Escentual throughout the whole month of March! If that's not a reason to shake things up French style, I don't know what is...